Deere announces layoffs

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color=blue>"the problem with the larger corporations is that they are being run by a bunch of greedy executives"</font color=blue>

Well, at the risk of taking an unpopular position here, I'd like to confuse some of the rhetoric with the facts.

Almost all larger corporations are publicly held. Shareholders are the owners. Shareholders want and deserve a good return on their investment. If they don't get it they'll take their capital elsewhere. Management is doing it's job when it tries to maximize those returns.

Now, of course, people are want to blame "greedy shareholders" for messing with pensions and poor people on fixed incomes, etc. Ahh, the evil, wanton, greedy shareholders...

Interestingly enough there are two groups which are the largest shareholders of corporate America and they have been for decades. At least now we know who to blame for harming pensions and people on fixed incomes, right?

Well, maybe not. You see, the two largest groups of shareholders of corporate America are widows and pension funds. As Walt Kelly penned in a Pogo cartoon over thirty years ago, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Your expressing some interesting points. Notice that the common denominator appears to be GREED. Pure and simple. Politicians give away what we think we earned to get themselves more votes, shareholders demand higher returns, CEO's demand "golden parachutes". Then there's us, the poor, stupid working class demanding our dollars stretch farther and farther so we can buy more STUFF (cars, boats, tractors, etc.) So, what would happen if we all took a week off, stayed home, did nothing and spent absolutely nothing?? See, aren't we the real problem?? We allow the politicians, CEO's and companies to waste our dollars by giving it to them to spend whether through purchasing or investing. What week would you like to try the experiment on ? Let's see if the TBN membership can upset the balance. July 4th week could be a nice expressive time.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Coincidentally, look at this little tidbit from The Washington Post. Monday, June 24, 2002; Page E01



Nextel Subsidiary Cleared to Pay Bonuses


NII Holdings Inc., the international subsidiary of Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston, is getting ready to hand out some bonuses to keep employees around as it works its way through bankruptcy.

NII on Tuesday was granted permission to pay as much as $5.8 million in retention bonuses to employees it says are essential to its Chapter 11 reorganization, which NII filed in late May with a plan to reduce its debt to $500 million from $2.7 billion.

The company, which sells wireless-communications services in Latin America and the Philippines, said in a motion filed last week in bankruptcy court that the extra money would encourage key employees to remain in their positions until the court confirms the reorganization plan.

According to bankruptcy court filings, NII had wanted to pay as much as $9.6 million in retention bonuses but the figure was lowered after negotiations with creditors. The bonuses will go to 24 employees, mostly senior managers. The company did not say how much money individual executives will get, but said the bonuses will range from 50 percent to 75 percent of their annual compensation.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

not bad. Run a company into the ground, then give an average bonus of $240,000.00 to the same boneheads that screwed it up. Ain't America great!

 

[fortyseven2n]

I'm not surprised about Deere closing plants . The company I work for used to machine parts for John Deere Consumer Products ( Homelite ) . We made parts for generators ( remember Y2K ? ) and demolition saws . John Deere closed 2 plants ( 1 in NC and 1 in SC ) that we dealt with in 1999 with about 1200 people out of work . Deere sold Homelite to Ryobi last year . Since the sale , they have cut the workforce at the last plant we dealt with ( SC ) to just enough people to produce cylinders and pistons for a few months for Ryobi . By the time it is all said and done , you can probably figure on about 1500-2000 workers total from all 3 plants who will have lost their jobs . I have met a lot of these folks and many of them have worked there since they got out of school and know nothing else . It is really sad because they are good folks . A lot of them were almost ready to retire .

I have also heard about the Gator plant in VA and at least 1 more plant in SC . I have also dealt with a lot of engineers and decision makers at JDCP and I can tell you , its no wonder they lost so much money . They did have some good products , just poor management . I even met an engineer from Mexico and he was very intelligent and well educated . He came to the USA because HE could barely scrape by working for Deere in Mexico !

My Deere for one is 100% made in USA ! Its a 1953 JD 40- S made in Dubuque . I would love to have a new compact Jd but unfortunately cannot justify the cost . JD still makes a really good quality product but I will be sorry to see it go to Mexico .

My Dad ( who is an Industrial Engineer ) spent a couple of years in Mexico opening a plant for a major textile manufacturer . He tells me that the workforce in Mexico is not the problem . It is usually the American management that lets the quality down . Look at it this way , you can train almost anyone to do your basic assembly line work but if YOU do not ensure that they do their job properly then you will likely get sorry work . It does not matter what country they are from .

Just my .02 worth .

Fortyseven2n

 

[ewoss3]

<font color=red>Have you seen this MAN?

<font color=black>BERNIE EBBERS see attachment

if so pls call the people that worked their tails off in his company.....he needs to answer to them.

I watched yesterday as hundreds of friends and co-workers got laid-off and slowly dropped offline. My entire work center was wiped out and only two of us survived. but as they have been saying, even the saved have no consolation because we have to deal with an increased workload and several of us faced the only choice of relocating to save our jobs even when other critical areas are allready seriously undermanned.

I had hoped management would figure out that re-organzing groups that where undermanned , they would also be saving money. One group I have friends in uses over 900 overtime hours per month to complete their work due to being undermanned by 26 positions.

Yesterday they laid-off another two techs from this same group and what happened? The two tech slot miraculously appear on the overtime board to be filled by people already working 55-75 hours per week. Is this cost effective?

Anyway everyone please remeber that the actions of senior management do not reflect the pride and proffesionalism of the People that actually provide you a service.[black/]

 

[wroughtn_harv]

We sat on pins and needles as wannabe son in law waited out the axe landing on all those around him at Worldcom.

It isn't a pretty thing. There will be a lot of hurting up and down the line. Of course the up side of the line will have to cut back while down side is just cutting everything, back, front, middle, etc.

 

[TerryinMD]

All -

I talked to Bob on Friday and he told me his condition. I was one of the "fortunate" ones and got laid off on Friday. The fact of the matter is that I had prepared myself for the possibility and it became a reality. No tears. No regrets.

After this weeks announcements and watching the internal machinations for the past few months all of this was enevitable. I really feel sorry for those who remain. There is a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot fewer people to keep it going.

Pray for those that remain. They have to bear the brunt of the load to keep the company afloat and will have a tough time doing it. There will be more layoffs to come and it will be probably of the same magnitude as this past Friday's.

As for me, I got home from work (funny term, now that I think about it /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif) on Friday and made two phone calls. Signed up for unemployment benefits and signed up with a local consortium that assists people in finding jobs - resume writing, counseling, possible training, etc. Just found out about it this past week. So, I will see what happens.

Terry

 

[MikePA]

Terry, you, as well as all the other Worldcom casualties, are in my prayers. That you might find the right job quickly and discover that this situation is a beginning and not an end.

 

[Bird]

Terry, I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers, and wish you the best of luck in future endeavors.

Has everyone else seen the new TV commercials for MCI in which they have a one price package that includes local service, unlimited long distance calling, etc.? I've wondered when the "regular" phone companies were going to do that since we already have it with cell phones.